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Cardiff Council

Supporting People Programme

Local Delivery Plan 2018/19

Appendix A

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Table of Contents Section

1 Introduction

2 Background

3 Strategic Context

4 Welsh Government Supporting People Strategic Priorities

4.1 Welsh Government Local Priorities

4.2 Setting Local Priorities

4.3 Needs Supply and Service Gaps

4.4 Proposed Spend Plan 2018/2019

4.5 Changes to the Spend Plan

4.6 Programme Review

5 Consultation Evidence

Appendix 1 - Annual Monitoring Results

Appendix 2 - Spend Plan for the Forthcoming Year

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1 Introduction

1.1 Supporting People Programme

The Supporting People Programme provides nearly 6,000 units of housing related support to vulnerable individuals in Cardiff to assist them to live independently and to prevent homelessness. This includes over 800 units of floating support, 1,400 units of supported accommodation and over 3,500 community alarm units. Support can be provided in the clients own home, in hostels, sheltered housing or other specialist supported accommodation. Twenty seven organisations deliver this support, the majority are charitable organisations. However the Council also provides services directly including two homeless hostels and a Rough Sleepers Outreach service. The Welsh Government provides Supporting People funding in the form of a grant and Local Authorities administer the funds and commission services. A multi-agency Regional Collaborative Committee (RCC) for the Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff operates to provide a collaborative approach and share best practice.

1.2 Purpose of Document

This Local Delivery Plan sets out the strategic and local priorities for Supporting People in Cardiff and how these will be achieved within the grant allocation for the 2018/19 financial year. It details how consultation with a wide range of providers and other stakeholders has influenced the commissioning process, and sets out, as far as is possible, the planned commissioning and de-commissioning intentions for the coming years.

2 Background

2.1 Funding Climate The Supporting People Programme Grant (SPPG) allocation was reduced by £2.8m or 15% between 2013/14 and 2015/16. Since then Cardiff’s allocation has remained at £16.2m each year. Achieving this reduction in spend was a considerable challenge for the Council and support providers. Despite some reduction in capacity many services were maintained as a high level of efficiencies were achieved. Also alternative funding arrangements such as through charitable donations and fund raising helped to keep some projects running. Further savings were achieved for 2017/18 as a result of the re-commissioning of the Generic Floating Support Service. The savings made were reinvested in services to provide support to rough sleepers, with the aim of reducing the numbers of people sleeping rough in the City. It also supported a grant programme for third sector organisations to bring forward innovative proposals for new ways of working. Projects supported included several that address the need to reduce rough sleeping and a project to support women at risk of exploitation. Funding was also invested in supporting homeless people placed in leased temporary accommodation to access accommodation in the private rented sector. Welsh Government’s draft 2018/19 budget indicates that the national Supporting People Programme Grant budget will remain at £124m. It is anticipated that each Local Authority’s grant allocation will also remain unchanged, meaning an allocation to Cardiff of £16.2m. An indicative grant offer is expected in December 2017 with a formal grant offer expected in March 2018.

3. Strategic Context

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Strategic Priorities:

Capital Ambition, the new administration's five-year plan for the city, outlines the Council’s vision for Cardiff to become a leading city on the world stage. Each Cabinet member has outlined their key aims and ambitions for their term of office. The Housing Strategy 2016-2021 identifies the following vision for future delivery of housing services in the city: To deliver the best housing outcomes for the people of Cardiff, working together with our partners to ensure that all our citizens can access quality, affordable and sustainable homes. Welfare Reform Act 2012 introduces a wide range of reforms. The Act introduces a new Universal Credit (UC) which will replace most existing benefits and limits the total amount of benefits a person can claim. The Westminster Government are proceeding with Welfare Reforms which may have further implications. In response to concerns raised, the Government will not apply the Local Housing Allowance rates to tenants in supported housing, nor to the wider social rented sector and are currently carrying out consultation on a sustainable funding mechanism for supported housing that ensures quality, value for money and security of future supply. The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 which began to be implemented in April 2015, involves a number of changes to how accommodation is managed and delivered and how people in housing need are assisted. Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 provides the legal framework for improving the well-being of people who need care and support, carers who need support, and for transforming social services in Wales.

The Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 came into force in April 2016. The Act aims to enable public bodies to tackle challenges through thinking more about the long-term and working more effectively with other organisations and with communities. Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 aims to improve the public sector response in Wales to all forms of abuse and violence against women and to improve domestic abuse and sexual violence services for all. Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. This Act aims to simplify the legal basis for renting a home from a private or ‘community’ landlord (Local Authorities and RSLs).

4. Welsh Government Supporting People Programme Strategic Priorities Welsh Government Ministers have previously outlined to the Regional Collaborative Committees their priorities for the Supporting People fund as:

Continued work at a regional level to ensure effective engagement and joining up of services.

Review of the strategic relevance of services across the region.

Ongoing engagement with colleagues from Homelessness Advice Services to ensure service provision is configured to prevent homelessness.

Engagement with colleagues across the region to reduce demand on more costly Health & Social Care provision.

Review patterns of provision to ensure all services are fit for purpose, reflect the needs of those accessing them and evidence that they provide value for money.

Continued improvement in outcomes collection and use of this information, alongside spend plan data, to prioritise

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service commissioning and remodelling.

Closer links between wider Tackling Poverty funding streams so resources are targeted and services are not duplicated.

The Council, together with providers, the Vale and Cardiff Regional Collaborative Committee (RCC) and Welsh Government, have recognised that funding reductions previously applied have increased the need to take a strategic approach to the delivery of housing related support services and increased the need to maximise the use of the funding available to support vulnerable people in Cardiff. To respond to this requirement, the Council has been taking a consultative approach to reviewing current services and developing ways forward for the coming financial year and beyond. Continued engagement with providers and other stakeholders is a key driver for change with a more strategic approach to identifying local priorities now in place. The aim is to deliver new arrangements for accessing and delivering quality services that are more targeted, better aligned and more efficient. 4.1 Welsh Government Priorities

(Funding Flexibilities)

In the recent past the Supporting People Programme was brought in line with the other Tackling Poverty Programmes, including Communities First, Families First and Flying Start. There was a clear drive to join up these anti-poverty programmes to achieve better outcomes for customers and more efficient use of resources. Engagement and feedback from Local Authorities, including the Communities and Tackling Poverty Alignment programme has led to the announcement by Welsh Government of Funding Flexibility Pathfinders as part of the Draft Budget 2018/19. Cardiff is one of these pathfinders.

The Full Flexibility pathfinder will give 100% flexibility across grants in order to achieve increased programme alignment. Closer working links between the various programmes are already being developed in Cardiff, including joining up services with Families First for young people and both Families First and Flying Start for Domestic Violence provision. Better alignment and joint commissioning will be a priority for the coming year.

4.2 Setting Local Priorities The approach to identifying local priorities and reviewing service delivery for the Supporting People Programme is ongoing and based on a set of agreed principles set out below:

Ensuring that services are based on need and that the most vulnerable service users are accessing provision.

Promoting independence and delivering support at the lowest appropriate level to meet client’s needs

Taking an evidence based approach – considering voids/turnover, outcomes and service user feedback

Ensuring services are sustainable

Maximising the time spent on the client and reduce management costs by encouraging collaboration between providers

Where possible, commissioning support in partnership with other public/third sector organisations

Working with providers and other partners to develop service specifications that are outcome based and quality focussed

4.3 Needs Supply and Service Gaps

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The annual survey at Appendix 1 provides a range of data about services and their users for the year 2016/17. This includes equality information and client needs in addition to supply and demand information. This information is collected every year and helps identify the priorities for the Supporting People Programme Grant in the coming year. It is also useful in finding gaps or oversupply in support provision. Information is also gathered through the Accommodation and Support Gateways; these gateways control access to services and record both client demand and provider performance. The overall picture of 2016/17 shows that 5,889 service users were supported within the supported accommodation and floating support services. (Figures do not include community alarm clients) Of those, 3,108 were supported in supported accommodation provision and 2,781 were in floating support provision.

Female service users accounted for almost 2,939 (54%) of those supported.

The majority of service users were aged 25 – 54 for both genders.

The next significant group included those aged 16 – 24, 811 (28%) of females and 482 almost (19%) of males supported were in this age group.

The top four lead needs identified in the report by the 5,889 service users are; Generic Floating Support to prevent homelessness 1,428 (24.2%), Mental Health 773 (13.1%), Women experiencing domestic abuse 705 (12%) and young person with support needs aged 16-24 which represented 457 (7.8%) of service users. The lead needs indicate there is a demand for service provision to help prevent homelessness by offering tenancy and

resettlement related support. The information also shows that there is a demand for housing related support for those experiencing mental health issues and for women who are victims of domestic abuse. Extensive needs assessment work has been undertaken as part of the recommissioning process, including a full assessment of the need for women who are victims of domestic abuse. Further work is underway to identify the needs of male victims of abuse and this is being reviewed on a regional basis. There is also a clear demand for services for young people. Further work is being carried out to refine understanding of this need as part of the recommissioning or process. In addition to the intelligence gathered through the Annual Survey and Accommodation and Support Gateways, consideration is also given to demographic data in determining future need. Emerging priorities The Annual Survey figures above indicate that 13% of service users in 2016/17 having a lead need of mental health issues, while 21% of service users mental health as a secondary need. This area has already been identified as a priority area for review and reconfiguration. Mental health issues are often experienced alongside substance misuse issues and therefore services dealing with both issues will be reviewed together. Work has commenced with colleagues in Social Services, Mental Health Services and Health to develop a full needs and gap analysis of the services. A review of these services will form a significant part of the Homelessness strand of the Accommodation and Support recommissioning programme during 2018/19 (see next page).

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4.4 The proposed Supporting People Spend Plan for 2018/19 The proposed spend plan can be found below; it shows schemes against spend for the Welsh Government spend categories that will be in operation in 2018/19.

Welsh Government Spend Categories Spend Category Schemes Units Total Allocation

Women at risk of Domestic Abuse

Floating Support

Refuge

Supported Housing

Domestic Abuse Alarms

DA Gateway

69

143

£1,255,689

37

16

20

1

Men at risk of Domestic Abuse Supported Housing 4 4 £23,221

People with Learning Disabilities

Adult Placements Supported Housing Supported Living

22 378

£2,234,172

1

355

People with Mental Health Issues Supported Housing Floating Support

106 145 £814,833

39

People with Substance Issues (Alcohol) Hostel Supported Housing

21 65 £654,134

44

People with Substance Misuse issues (Drugs and Volatile substances)

Floating Support Hostel Supported Housing

16 73 £803,667

15

42

People with Criminal Offending History Supported Housing 33 33 £386,100

People with Refugee Status Floating Support 37 37 £153,920

People with Physical and/or Sensory Disabilities

Supported Housing Extra Care

23 31 £75,283

8

People with Chronic Illnesses (incl. HIV/AIDS) Supported Housing 6 6 £34,964

Young People who are Care Leavers Supported Housing 10 10 £181,480

Young People with Support Needs (16 - 24)

Supported Housing Floating Support Hostel

51 179 £1,865,804

60

68

Single Parent Families with Support Needs Supported Housing Hostel

9 30 £393,120 21

Families with Support Needs Supported Housing Hostel

33 84 £822,198

51

People over 55 years of age with Support Needs (this category must be exclusive of alarm services)

Extra Care Supported Housing Floating Support

37 124 £229,617

15

72

Alarm services (including sheltered/extra care schemes)

Community Alarm Services including Sheltered and Extra Care

3579 3579 £532,539

Generic Floating support to prevent homelessness (Tenancy support services which cover a range of service user needs but which must be exclusive of fixed site support)

Floating Support 729 729

£2,329,040

Expenditure which does not directly link to the spend plan categories above (Includes homeless services)

Supported Housing Hostels Floating Support Gateway

115 389 £3,477,689

221

48

5

Total 6039

Number of units allocated to type of support

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Types of Support

Type of Support No of Units

Hostel 397

Floating Support 1070

Refuge 37

Supported Housing 508

Domestic Abuse Alarms 20

Adult Placements 22

Supported Living 355

Extra Care 45

Community Alarm Services including Sheltered and Extra Care 3579

Gateway 6

Total 6039

4.5 The major changes to the proposed Spend Plan for 2018/19 are set out below: As stated previously it is anticipated that the indicative grant for 2018/19 will remain unchanged. However needs assessment work has identified where some realignment of resources is required for next year. Therefore although the level of intended spend within each spend category is broadly similar to last year there have been some changes to current funding levels. There has also been some realignment of schemes between spend categories to better reflect the activity that they carry out. The full spend plan is attached at Appendix 2. Women at risk of domestic abuse – Spend in this area is expected to increase to reflect the need to carry out more preventative work. Previously services focused only on victims at medium or high risk of abuse. Intervening at an early stage while risk is lower could prevent abuse from escalating and is in line with the new legislation. A service for standard risk victims has been built into the new Gender Specific services which are currently being recommissioned.

Older Persons Support and Alarm services - Spend on older persons

support service are expected to decrease, the reasons for this are outlined in more detail later in this report. Spend on alarms will also reduce following changes to bring these in line with the grant terms and conditions that ‘funding for alarm services should cover the emergency alarm element only and this should only be for those with an identified need.’

Homelessness Prevention Projects – in 2017/18 a grant programme was supported to allow third sector organisations to bring forward innovative proposals for new ways of working. These included:

The Compass Project – intensive support for those who are entrenched rough sleepers or who experience a revolving cycle of frontline accommodation, prison, mental health rehabilitation, hospital and rough sleeping.

Housing First Project - providing mainstream accommodation for rough sleepers; with flexible support for as long as it is needed

Cardiff Solutions Project - aims to provide assistance to individuals who do not wish to access services through more formal settings by using the Wallich Night Shelter.

Ty Tarian - provides homeless women who are being exploited or who are at

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risk of exploitation access to secure, female-only hostel accommodation with 24 hour support.

The number of rough sleepers in Cardiff has been increasing over recent years. The projects above as well as the expansion of the Council’s own Outreach service have been developed to encourage rough sleepers to engage with services. Early indications from these projects suggest progress is being made and it is the intention to continue funding these projects for 2018/19.

Homelessness Support Service – This service operated by the Councils Housing Options service will work to prevent and address homelessness by assisting families and vulnerable individuals to prepare for, access and relocate to accommodation in the private rented sector.

Youth Mentoring - This Council provided service will enhance the new Employment Service is due to commence in April, assisting young people who are furthest from the workplace to resolve any issues which prevent them from accessing employment or training. This service will link closely with Youth Services and Careers Wales to target the most vulnerable including young people in supported accommodation. Given the growing impact of the Welfare Reform changes on young people, returning to work is an important route out of poverty and homelessness.

4.6 Programme Review An Accommodation and Support project was set up during 2015/16 to review and recommission accommodation and support provision in Cardiff. While this review was focused on Supporting People funded projects, a wider view was taken and other funding sources and services

were included where appropriate to give a more rounded approach to client need. Services were grouped into 5 categories with a consultation and planning group set up for each. The groupings are:

Floating Support

Gender Specific/Domestic Abuse

Young Persons Services

Homelessness & Rough Sleeping (including substance misuse and mental health services)

Longer Term Services (including older people)

The consultation and planning groups

engaged with other services, projects and

organisations to identify and agree local

priorities and develop similar aims around:

Identifying opportunities for alignment, or joint commissioning or delivery.

Developing single access point for services “Gateways” to ensure most effective use of resource and to prioritise the most vulnerable clients.

Greater understanding of need through the development of central waiting lists and allocations.

Developing the right mix of accommodation types

Developing clear pathways, structured journeys to independent living (wherever possible)

Developing specifications for commissioning

Identifying opportunities for efficiency savings.

At that time there were 38 contracts, delivered by 32 third sector providers and it was accepted that the recommissioning of these complex and essential services should be carried out in a phased way.

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Wherever possible a joined up approach has been taken to recommissioning services, working across departmental and grant funding boundaries to

commission comprehensive services for clients.

The Accommodation and Support Review Programme is at Phase 1 of

implementation through a three phased commissioning plan as provided below:

4.7 Update on progress to date Generic Floating Support The Generic Floating Support Services recommissioning projects were completed in April 2017. The completed review and subsequent recommissioning of both services has seen the implementation of two new contracts each with an annual value of £1m. The Generic Floating Support recommissioning in particular released considerable efficiency savings of £900k, whilst reducing the number of contracts in place and streamlining administration process. It has also resulted in improved monitoring, performance management and outcome reporting. As a result, the savings made were reinvested in other priority areas such as homelessness and rough sleeping. There was also investment in services to support people placed in leased temporary accommodation to access

accommodation in the private rented sector. Gender Specific/Domestic Abuse Services Cardiff has held a long-term desire to recommission services due to the current complexity of funding streams which have led to duplication of some roles and service delivery, with other key services being left inappropriately supported. Services as they stand are not robust or sustainable in their current format. This lack of strategic direction for domestic abuse services has also been acknowledged by the Welsh Government and the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner. The aim is to ensure services can respond to the new duties under the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 and align to the developing Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).

Accommodation & Support Services - Three Phase Commissioning Plan

Phase 1

Generic Floating Support services

Advice Services Older Persons Floating Support services

All Gender Specific services (including domestic abuse)

Phase 2

Supported Housing

Specialist Floating Support services (includes substance misuse, mental health, young persons and refugees.)

Other specialist support (includes learning disabilities and physical disabilities.

Phase 3 Homeless Hostels

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As of December 2017 the Gender Specific/Domestic Abuse project is at the procurement stage. The re-commissioned service is intended to join up and further develop services to create straightforward access to a range of provision, to meet the need for preventative services, including target hardening and to provide a clear pathway through support. There will be a comprehensive service under one contract accessed via a ‘one stop shop’ that will include:

Single ‘front door’ for all referrals

Intake and assessment

Advice and signposting

Sessions from other specialist community support services

A larger team of community based support workers, providing support and advocacy, and bringing together housing related floating support and the current work of the Independent Domestic Abuse Advocates

Target hardening

Refuge provision

Supported housing

Self-help programmes

Provision of advice and support to assist police call-outs 24/7

Much work was undertaken to develop a detailed specification for these services in partnership with Children’s Services, Flying Start, South Wales Police, the Police and Crime Commissioners office. Welsh Women’s Aid assisted with the specification and with obtaining feedback from victims of abuse. Procurement commenced in October 2017. It is expected that the newly recommissioned contract will commence in April 2018. Officers will work very closely with the successful organisation to ensure that there is a period of transition followed by the smooth implementation of the newly commissioned service. There will be close

and ongoing contract management and performance monitoring to ensure the service is delivering the intended outcomes for both service users and commissioners. Following consultation with victims of domestic abuse a modification was made to the approach initially proposed. Services for Male victims will now be recommissioned separately. Consultation with victims and other research has indicated a separate domestic abuse services for men with a better focus on their needs is required. Currently discussions are taking place with other Local Authorities to develop a regional service provision. Older People

The Aylward review made the following

recommendations with regard to eligibility

of older people to Supporting People

funded services“…the eligibility for older

people receiving Supporting People

funds should be based on need rather

than age or tenure.” (Aylward, 2010)

Welsh Government guidance requires a move away from support based on tenure towards a service based on need; for example it is no longer possible to fund a warden support service to all residents of sheltered accommodation just by virtue of being a resident. Many social landlords, including the Council, have implemented this change already and the remainder will have done so by the end of this year. Many social landlords have retained their scheme manager/warden funded through rental income, minimising the impact to tenants.

As a result of this change the number of contracts for older persons’ accommodation based support had reduced. As a contingency arrangement capacity within older persons floating support services was increased however

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this additional capacity has not been used and demand for this service is low with only 18 older people receiving a service at present.

The Council’s development of the Independent Living Service has brought better co-ordination of services addressing the needs of older persons living in the community, providing help to access a wide range of support such as advice on benefits, disabled adaptations, grants, home energy efficiency and support to avoid social isolation. The further development of the service will include support for older people leaving hospital and low level support to help people live independently.

There is sufficient capacity within the newly commissioned Generic Floating Support Service to meet current demand for housing related support from older persons. This together with services offered by Independent Living will more than meet the current demand for older persons support and therefore it is not proposed to commission a specific older persons floating support service. It is proposed to cease funding for the current older persons floating support service during 2018/19. Beforehand current service users will have their support needs reviewed by Independent Living Officers and a holistic approach will be taken ensuring the full individual needs are met by appropriate provision.

Contracts for Supporting People funded housing related support services within Extra care schemes will continue. Extra care schemes provide the opportunity for people with significant care needs to live as active and independent lives as possible, living in their own homes with support tailored to their individual needs providing a real alternative to residential care. Community Alarms

The grant terms and conditions state that ‘funding for alarm services should cover the emergency alarm element only and this should only be for those with an identified need.’ In order to meet these terms eligibility criteria for funding community alarm services based on need have been developed in conjunction with the RCC Older Persons Task and finish Group, and this criteria will apply to all new community alarm service clients from April 2018. Following implementation of the new needs criteria for alarm services and the introduction of new service delivery models for housing related support for older persons, demand and take up of services will be monitored so that any positive or negative impact is identified and service can be adjusted accordingly. Supported Housing - Recommissioning Young People’s Services In October 2015 the Council established a Young Person’s Gateway to manage all accommodation and support for young people. Previously services for homeless young people operated separately from services for ‘looked after children’. The service operates as a partnership between Homelessness, Children’s Services and a third sector organisation which carries out homeless prevention and mediation services. The Gateway is located in Charles Street and Housing Options officers, social workers and support workers are co-located in the building. Accommodation is provided by third sector organisations under 17 different agreements.

Since the establishment of the Gateway over 550 young people have been housed without use of bed and breakfast accommodation and the mediation work to prevent homelessness has had a positive outcome in over 55% of cases. The Gateway has demonstrated the benefits of

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operating services in a joined up way, using different funding streams to create clear support pathways to assist vulnerable people towards independence. This approach has been recognised as good practice by the Welsh Government. More recently the possibility of developing a One Stop Shop for young people has been considered. This could combine the services accessible from the Gateway with the Youth Service’s mentoring provision available at Grassroots also in the City centre, to develop a comprehensive service for young people. By combining this existing provision and incorporating building other services such as money advice and health services a comprehensive advice service for young people could be developed.

This approach would bring Cardiff very much in line with good practice in this area. The St Basil’s ‘Positive Pathway Model’ has been developed as a framework for Local Authorities and their partners and is recognised as current best practice. The model provides a planned approach to homelessness prevention and housing for young people and underpins achievement of positive outcomes in areas such as education, training, employment and health. It is key to the success of any model that young people are effectively engaged, particularly the hardest to reach. Recommissioning A joined up approach has been taken to recommissioning services for young people, working across departmental and grant funding boundaries to commission comprehensive services for clients. While consultation is ongoing on detail of the services to be recommissioned, these will include the following:

Housing Advice, Family Mediation and Homelessness Prevention Service

Accommodation for Young People - Emergency Accommodation; Hostel Accommodation; Supported Accommodation

Move On Support and Tenancy Rescue - Housing Related Floating Support, Homelessness Prevention Support, Support for Young People moving into Training Tenancies and help to access private rented accommodation

Recommissioning will contain an option to purchase services for very high risk young people and to deliver a supported lodgings service. The aim is to have the recommissioned service contracts in place for April 2019

Next Steps

The Accommodation and Support Review Programme has now completed Phase 1 with Phase 2 and 3 underway. For 2018/19 the focus of the review will be homelessness and mental health provision. 5. Consultation Evidence

5.1 Consultation with Key Stakeholders

Consultation has remained a key priority and has contributed significantly to the recent developments within the Supporting People programme in Cardiff.

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In the main consultation has taken place through the Accommodation & Support Review Project. As well as the multi- agency Consultation & Planning Groups, there are regular meetings between Housing, Children’s Services and Youth Services and more recently Housing and Social Care Mental Health Services. There have been meetings with Housing and Cardiff & Vale Health Board representatives including Substance Misuse and Mental Health Services. Each of the strands of the review has an established support provider consultation group which meet to discuss ongoing performance and good practice changes. Out of the Consultation & Planning Groups, working groups have been set up which have been instrumental in the implementation of and the ongoing operation of the new ways of working. Examples of engagement work include:

Prior to going out to procurement of the Advice, Generic Floating Support Service and the Gender Specific Service, notices were placed on Sell2Wales, for organisations to register an interest and to receive information. For each of the services being procured two Consultation Workshops were held with those expressing an interest attending and contributing suggestions regarding service design and proposed contractual arrangements.

Notices have recently been placed on Sell2Wales regarding the recommissioning of Young People’s services and two workshops have been held so far, giving the opportunity to interested organisations to contribute early on to the development

of services and the potential contract arrangements.

The RCC set up an Older Persons Task & Finish Group, consisting of landlord and service user representatives to consider the changes required to older persons support services. This as well as discussions and negotiations with individual providers of older persons services resulted in fundamental changes to the way support services are delivered. Further eligibility criteria for funding community alarm services based on need was formulated through the task & finish group and the criteria will apply to all new community alarm service clients from April 2018

5.2 Consultation with service users Careful consideration has been given to ways to achieve positive engagement with service users. A “no one size fits all” approach has been developed. There are a number of barriers to service user engagement, not least the array of client groups, transient nature of some service users and services, impartiality and general willingness to take part. Examples of service user engagement are detailed below:

Prior to the procurement of the Generic Floating Support service a survey was posted to 607 former users of the service. As well as returning the survey in paper format, users were given the option of completing the survey electronically through the Council’s website. A total of 62 responses were received, 10% of those sent out. While a low number this was considered a reasonable sample level for this hard to reach group and the draft service specification was

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amended following the comments received.

From the returns a number of people indicated that they would be willing to engage further with commissioners and to take part in the evaluation of submitted tenders. Initial engagement went well with three former service users taking part in early discussions. However none were able to attend on the day of the tenderers presentations.

To help inform recommissioning of gender specific/domestic abuse services the Housing teams in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan Council approached Cardiff Research Centre to support some research activities with service users who have experienced domestic abuse in the last three years. The Cardiff Research Centre worked with the Domestic Abuse Co-ordinator from Cardiff Council, and the Domestic Violence & Sexual Abuse Co-ordinator from the Vale of Glamorgan Council to devise a questionnaire, which was developed into a bi-lingual online survey.

The survey was disseminated by the Housing Teams in both Cardiff and the Vale to relevant stakeholder groups and online access was shared widely. Where required, paper copies of the survey were made available to support workers to distribute to those without access to the online version.

With the assistance of Welsh Womens Aid extensive face to face consultation took place with female victims of abuse about the services that they would wish to see and this has helped inform the specification for services.

To help inform the commissioning of services for male victims of domestic abuse in August 2016 service user interviews took place. Three men were

interviewed, two of which were in heterosexual relationships and 1 was in a same sex relationship. Given the very small number of men interviewed, their views cannot be considered to be representative of all male victims of domestic abuse living in Cardiff. However, there were some themes that were identified that will be considered in more detail when thinking about the support needs required by male victims and how best to advertise the services available.

To help inform recommissioning of Young People’s services a Service User Listening Event was held for Care Leavers, in partnership with Children's Services and led by NYAS (Cymru) was held in March 2016.

In 2017, a questionnaire was devised to ask young people about their experiences of supported accommodation and what they thought could be done to improve the service they received. Staff from the Housing Options Centre used the questionnaire to conduct face to face interviews plus telephone surveys with young people as they moved through the Young Person’s Gateway accommodation. Over 100 young people completed the questionnaire.

Throughout the summer and autumn of 2017, Young People who attended training to prepare them to move into Training Tenancy flats were also asked to complete the questionnaire.

In November 2017 a consultation event was facilitated by Children’s Services with support from Housing & Communities. The event was designed to probe more deeply into the issues raised in the questionnaire and to gauge reaction to the Independent Living Checklist that had been developed to assess and monitor the

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progress made by young people on their journey through support. A total of 14 young people attended this event, some from a care background and others who had been accepted as homeless. All of this information from

the young people’s consultation activity has been used to produce a single report on the findings. This will inform the commissioning process.

Conclusion As progress is made with each service reviewed the client group affected will be invited to tell us how they currently receive services, what they currently value about that provision, and what could be delivered differently. This will enable resources to focus on genuinely improving outcomes for residents of Cardiff in a more flexible and appropriate manner. Also wherever possible service users will be involved in the procurement evaluation process to ensure that their voice is heard in the assessment of future support providers.

Page 1 of 8

Appendix 1

Annual Monitoring Report 2016 – 17

1. Introduction

In April 2017, the Supporting People Team asked all support providers; with the

exception of alarm only services, to complete an annual monitoring form with the aim

of analysing information to look at the needs of service users and the profile of these

individuals.

This information will help provide a greater understanding of the priorities the

Supporting People Programme Grant will focus on in the coming year. It also

identifies where gaps or an oversupply exists in current provision and helps inform

the type of projects that should be funded. All of the information was based on the

service users that had been supported from 1st April 2016 to 31st March 2017.

The overall picture of 2016-17 shows that 5,889 service users were supported. Of

those 3,108 were supported in supported accommodation provision and 2,781 in

floating support provision.

NB: Not all organisations provided the necessary information in the annual report

due to contracts ending at the end of the year. In these cases, anonymised quarterly

return information was utilised in the charts and graphs. Where information is

unavailable, baselines have been adjusted within the relevant section.

2. Demographics

The demographic profile of the service users that were supported in this period can

be seen in the charts below:

Female service users accounted for

50% of those supported.

The majority of service users were

aged 25 – 54 for both genders.

The next significant group included those aged 16 – 24, where 28% of females and almost 19% of males supported were in this age group. NB: For those projects that did not complete the annual monitoring the service users have been represented as gender Not Known.

2513, 43%

2939, 50%

6, 0%

431, 7%

Gender Baseline 5,889

Males

Females

Transgender

Not Known

Page 2 of 8

Ethnicity The most prominent ethnic group is White representing 61% of service users. The

next largest group is Not Known, with 18% accounted for in this group and the ethnic

group, Black represented 7% of service users supported.

NB: For those projects that did not complete the annual monitoring the service user’s ethnicity has been included within Not Known.

811, 28%

1771, 60%

190, 6%

145, 5% 22, 1%

Age - Female

16 - 24

25 - 54

55 - 64

65 & over

Not Known

3605, 61%

271, 5%

286, 5%

429, 7%

232, 4%

1066, 18%

Ethnicity Baseline 5,889

White (all white backgrounds)

Mixed / Multiple Ethnic Groups

Asian (all asian backgrounds)

Black (all black backgrounds)

Other

Not Known

482, 19%

1589, 63%

276, 11%

166, 7%

Age - Male

16 - 24

25 - 54

55 - 64

65 & over

Page 3 of 8

3. Type of Provision

The table below shows the different project models; it displays the number of units

allocated to each and the percentage of the total they represent. The chart also

shows the number of service users that have been supported. The largest number is

for floating support which represents 45.0% of all support provision. In total 2,763

service users received support against 1,023 available units.

Project Model Units Percentage Supported

24 Hour Staffed Supported Housing 167 7.3% 528

Adult Placement 22 1.0% 22

Direct Access / Hostel 343 15.1% 1655

Floating Support 1023 45.0% 2763

Sheltered 63 2.8% 43

Supported Housing 657 28.8% 878

TOTAL 2275 100.0% 5889

528, 9% 22, 0%

1655, 28%

2763, 47%

43, 1% 878, 15%

People supported by Project Model Baseline 5,889

24 Hour Staffed SupportedAccommodation

Adult Placement

Direct Access

Floating Support

Sheltered

Supported Housing

Page 4 of 8

4. Lead Needs

The providers were asked about the lead support needs of their service users.

24.2% of service users listed their lead need as Generic Floating Support to prevent

homelessness. Another prominent lead need is Mental Health which was listed by

13.1% of service users as a lead need. Other prominent lead needs are women

experiencing domestic abuse which was identified by 12% and young person with

support needs aged 16-24 which represented 7.8% of service users.

Lead Needs Supported Percentage

Women Experiencing Domestic Abuse 705 12.0% Men Experiencing Domestic Abuse 44 0.7% People with Learning Disabilities 404 6.9% People with Mental Health Issues 773 13.1% People with Substance Misuse Issues (Alcohol) 244 4.1% People with Substance Misuse Issues (Drugs & Volatile Substances)

207 3.5%

People with Criminal Offending History 229 3.9% People with Refugee Status 156 2.6% People with Physical and/or Sensory Disabilities 157 2.7% People with Developmental Disorder 4 0.1% People with Chronic Illnesses 37 0.6% Young People who are Care Leavers 81 1.4% Young People with Support Needs (16 – 24) 457 7.8% Single Parent Families with Support Needs 262 4.4% Families with Support Needs 110 1.9% Single Person with Support Needs (25 – 54) 315 5.3% People over the age of 55 with Support Needs 122 2.1% Generic Floating Support to prevent homelessness 1428 24.2% Alarm Services 60 1.0% Expenditure which does not directly link to the spend plan categories

94 1.6%

Total 5889 100%

The lead needs indicate there is a demand for service provision to help prevent

homelessness by offering tenancy and resettlement related support. The chart also

shows that there is a demand for housing related support for those experiencing

mental health issues and for women who are victims of domestic abuse. Also there

is a demand for services for young people. In terms of recommissioning or

reconfiguring the immediate focus is on service for young people and those

experiencing poor mental health and homelessness.

It is important that lead need are correctly identified by providers as they will direct

future provision needs and help the Supporting People Team direct appropriate

services.

Page 5 of 8

5. Spend Category

The table below shows the demand and usage of services by Supporting People

spend category during the period 1st April 2016 to 31st March 2017.

Spend Category Units % Supported Usage

1 Women Experiencing Domestic Abuse

106 4.7% 659 621.7%

2 Men Experiencing Domestic Abuse 5 0.2% 9 180.0% 3 People with Learning Disabilities 360 15.8% 352 97.8% 4 People with Mental Health Issues 173 7.6% 323 186.7% 5 People with Substance Misuse

Issues (Alcohol) 65 2.9% 125 192.3%

6 People with Substance Misuse Issues (Drugs & Volatile Substances)

59 2.6% 126 213.6%

7 People with Criminal Offending History

29 1.3% 68 234.5%

8 People with Physical and/or Sensory Disabilities

23 1.0% 26 113.0%

9 People with Chronic Illnesses 6 0.3% 6 100.0% 10 Young People who are Care Leavers 10 0.4% 25 250.0% 11 Young People with Support Needs

(16 – 24) 149 6.6% 506 339.6%

12 Single Parent Families with Support Needs

30 1.3% 75 250.0%

13 Families with Support Needs 156 6.9% 528 338.5% 14 People over the age of 55 with

Support Needs 132 5.8% 154 116.7%

15 Generic Floating Support to prevent homelessness

654 28.8% 1649 370.6%

16 Expenditure which does not directly link to the spend plan categories

318 14.0% 1258 401.9%

TOTAL 2275 100.0% 5889 285.7%

Spend categories that tend to have short term interventions such as Generic Floating

Support and Women Experiencing Domestic Abuse have a high usage rate in

comparison to categories that are predominately accommodation based. Those with

lower usage rates tend to be made up of long term supported accommodation

projects such as those that work with People with Chronic Illnesses, Physical or

Learning Disabilities.

Page 6 of 8

6. Referrals

The chart below show’s where there is demand or under supply of services relating

to a particular spend category.

Spend categories such as women experiencing domestic abuse and young people

with support needs are managing to support a high number of service users in

comparison to the number of units they have.

106

5

360

173

65

59

29

23

6

10

149

30

156

132

445

313

659

9

352

323

125

126

68

26

6

25

506

75

528

154

1218

1258

706

14

8

243

184

102

88

2

2

25

454

75

329

75

945

1225

0 500 1000 1500

Women Experiencing Domestic Abuse

Men Experiencing Domestic Abuse

People with Learning Disabilities

People with Mental Health Issues

People with Substance Misuse Issues(Alcohol)

People with Substance Misuse Issues (Drugs& Volatile Substances)

People with Criminal Offending History

People with Physical and/or SensoryDisabilities

People with Chronic Illnesses

Young People who are Care Leavers

Young People with Support Needs (16 – 24)

Single Parent Families with Support Needs

Families with Support Needs

People over the age of 55 with SupportNeeds

Generic Floating Support to preventhomelessness

Expenditure which does not directly link tothe spend plan categories

Referrals and Supported by Spend Category

Referrals

Supported

No. of Units

Page 7 of 8

There are a number of spend categories that are not able to accommodate all the

referrals they received. In some cases this might be a result of the project/scheme

being at full capacity and not having the space to accommodate or an inappropriate

referral. For some of these individuals their needs will be able to be accommodated

by generic provision, depending on provision and their particular housing related

support need.

7. Length of Support

As the chart below shows the majority of service users, 68% were supported for less

than six months, these are predominately people accessing the floating support

services. The chart also highlights that 13% of people have been supported for over

18 months; these are mainly those in long term support projects such as sheltered

housing or supported accommodation for people with learning disabilities.

However there was short term supported accommodation provision that reported

having service

users staying for

18 months or

more. This is

thought to be due

to lack of general

move on housing

and reluctance

for service users

and providers to

consider a move

to private rented

accommodation.

29

65

5

106

20

59

5

47

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

People with Criminal Offending History

People with Substance Misuse Issues(Alcohol)

Men Experiencing Domestic Abuse

Women Experiencing Domestic Abuse

Number of Units Compared to those Referrals that were not Supported

Not Supported

Units

2239, 42%

1399, 26%

724, 14%

263, 5% 699, 13%

Length of Time Supported Baseline 5,324

Up to 3 Months

3 - 6 Months

6 - 12 Months

12 - 18 Months

Over 18 Months

Page 8 of 8

Service users remaining in supported accommodation for long periods of time,

reduces the number that can be accommodated by support provision.

7. Move On

As supported housing is not intended to be a long term or permanent solution for the

vast majority of service users, move on is an important step in their progress to live

independently and sustain accommodation in the community using the skills and

knowledge have gained. For those service users that have moved on from support,

particularly those in supported accommodation services, the chart below shows

where service users have moved on to within Cardiff.

Other is the most significant option which represents 46%; however other as a move

on option could include a range of options such as moving in with family or living with

friends. From the 2,145 people that moved on last year 15% were able to secure a

council tenancy and 8% moved into a housing association property.

Only 10% of those that moved on went into the private rented sector. Due to the

shortage and demand for social housing, there is an expectation that the private

rented sector will see an increase next year. Many support providers state that

move on into suitable accommodation is the one of the biggest hurdles that their

service users face. The Housing Option Team within the Local Authority and the

supporting people providers are working closely with the private rented sector to help

build confidence and create better pathways for people into suitable accommodation.

333, 15%

177, 8%

212, 10%

13, 1%

173, 8%

226, 11%

15, 1%

996, 46%

Move on accommodation within Cardiff Baseline 2,145

CCC Tenancy

Frontline Provider

Private Rented Sector

Social Lettings Agency

RSL / Housing Association

Secondary Provider

Tertiary Provider

Other

Appendix 2

Spend Plan Collection Period

Regional Collaborative Committee:

Local Authority: Cardiff

Annual Allocation:

Client

units

Less Than 6

Months

Client

units

6 to 24

Months

Client

units

24 Months

plus

Client

units

Less Than 6

Months

Client

units6 to 24 Months

Client

units

24 Months

plus

Client Spend Category (The category to which the

service is primarily focused)Numbers £ Numbers £ Numbers £ Numbers £ Numbers £ Numbers £ £ Numbers £

Women at risk of Domestic Abuse 37 £548,311.40 16 £116,480.00 0 £0.00 90 £590,898.08 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 143 £1,255,689.48

Men at risk of Domestic Abuse 0 £0.00 4 £23,220.60 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 4 £23,220.60

People with Learning Disabilities 0 £0.00 4 £21,964.80 374 £2,212,206.88 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 378 £2,234,171.68

People with Mental Health Issues 0 £0.00 9 £65,520.00 106 £559,986.44 30 £189,326.28 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 145 £814,832.72

People with Substance Issues (Alcohol) 0 £0.00 27 £299,029.64 38 £355,104.36 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 65 £654,134.00

People with Substance Misuse issues (Drugs and Volatile

substances) 0 £0.00 57 £702,652.60 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 16 £101,014.16 0 £0.00 73 £803,666.76

People with Criminal Offending History 0 £0.00 33 £386,100.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 33 £386,100.00

People with Refugee Status 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 37 £153,920.00 0 £0.00 37 £153,920.00

People with Physical and/or Sensory Disabilities 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 31 £75,284.56 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 31 £75,284.56

People with Developmental Disorders (i.e. Autism) 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00

People with Chronic Illnesses (including HIV/AIDS) 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 6 £34,964.28 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 6 £34,964.28

Young People who are Care Leavers 0 £0.00 10 £181,480.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 10 £181,480.00

Young People with Support Needs (16 - 24) 0 £0.00 119 £1,577,177.68 0 £0.00 42 £157,586.00 18 £131,040.00 0 £0.00 179 £1,865,803.68

Single Parent Families with Support Needs 0 £0.00 30 £393,120.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 30 £393,120.00

Families with Support Needs 51 £693,460.56 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 33 £128,737.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 84 £822,197.56

Single People with Support Needs not listed above (25 - 54) 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00

People over 55 years of age with Support Needs

(this category must be exclusive of alarm services) 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 52 £102,157.12 72 £127,460.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 124 £229,617.12

Generic Floating support to prevent homelessness(tenancy

support services which cover a range of service user needs but

which must be exclusive of fixed site support) 727 £2,259,040.00 2 £70,000.00 0 £0.00 729 £2,329,040.00

Alarm services (including sheltered/extracare schemes) 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 3579 £532,538.63 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 0 £0.00 3579 £532,538.63

Expenditure which does not directly link to the spend plan

categories above (Explanation required in accompanying e-mail) 226 £2,394,349.36 111 £602,961.96 0 £0.00 37 £358,458.41 15 £121,919.20 0 £0.00 389 £3,477,688.93

TOTALS 314 £3,636,121.32 420 £4,369,707.28 4186 £3,872,242.27 1031 £3,811,505.77 88 £577,893.36 0 £0.00 6039 £16,267,470.00

Total (exc

LA cont)

Local Authority Spend Plan 2018-19

Local Authority

Contribution

Service Type

Fixed Site (Accommodation Based) Floating (Community Based)

Total units

(exc LA

cont)

The Vale & Cardiff

£16, 267,470